When anxious white cops kill their black colleagues in the line of duty without ever losing so much as a day’s pay, that is a serious racial problem.

When a black man is racially profiled and arrested in his own home for challenging a white cop who mistakes him for a burglar, that is a serious racial problem.

But when a black governor performs worse than the Mets and tries to blame his declining popularity on a media-driven racial attack, that is not a serious racial problem.

That is a joke.

We couldn’t actually see Gov. Paterson on Friday when he went on a radio program and made a fool of himself with his racial-conspiracy nonsense. But it is safe to assume that he did it with a straight face.

Paterson’s paranoia doesn’t mean they’re not out to get him. But the truth is that this governor has been in free fall since the Caroline Kennedy debacle. Secret pay raises and late-night party hopping didn’t help, either.

To be fair, Paterson did raise a few excellent points in the radio interview: There aren’t enough blacks in the media to balance coverage. President Obama is the target of a racist backlash. (Come on, rifles at a health-care rally?)

And Paterson’s assessment that we’ve jumped the gun on a post-racial America is on target.

But much of America has already tuned out even the most legitimate cries of racism.

If people follow Paterson’s lead and cry wolf from the steps of the Capitol, the country might stop listening completely.